


Three Times Gabe Was Jealous and One Time William Acted On It

by lefticurse



Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship, The Academy Is...
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 19:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8114662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lefticurse/pseuds/lefticurse
Summary: Gabe isn't sure when everyone and their mother started being all up in William's space, but he does not appreciate it.





	

1.

Gabe drapes himself over Pete’s shoulder. It’s kind of hard, actually. He’s so far down that Gabe can feel all the blood rush to his head, but he’s drunk, so it makes him giggle.

“Pete, my man,” He says.

“Hey, Gabe.” Pete responds. “You’re drunk.” He states then, as if it weren’t obvious. Dumb Pete.

“Pete, you’re dumb.” He says, and his eyes wander over to William is dancing with some boy.

“William is dancing with a boy.” Gabe whines. “That boy is not me.”

“That’s Nick.” Pete tells him. “Scimeca. Have you met him?”

“No. I don’t want to meet him. He’s stealing my Bill away.” Gabe says, his arms still around Pete. “Grow taller. You’re making my back hurt.”

“I didn’t tell you to lean on me.” Pete huffs.

“You were there, and I am too tired to stand. Too tired and too _distraught_.” Gabe responds dramatically. 

“Gabe - “

“William is so cute.” Gabe says. “William is so cute, and he’s dancing with that boy. What if he kisses that boy? What if he _marries_ that boy? What’ll stop him? Nothing!”

“He won’t.” Pete assures him, but Gabe continues.

“I love William. Did you know that?”

“Yeah. I think everyone knows that.” Gabe gasps.

“Even Billy?”

“No,” Pete sighs. “Not Billy. Get off me, will you? You’re heavy.”

“No!” Gabe cries. “Everyone abandons me! First Bill, then you! Speaking of Bill, I like Bill.”

“I know, Gabe.” Pete replies, then starts looking around. “Where the hell is Patrick?”

“Up your _nose_!” Gabe says, then bursts into laughter, loudly enough that even William hears and turns toward him, looking confused and weird, somehow. Gabe waves. “William has a cute nose. Did you see him look at me? I saw him look at me. He looks beautiful.” Gabe rambles. “Too bad William is in _love_ with this Nick guy.” Gabe says remorsefully.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re like an overgrown five year old?” Pete asks him, and it’s kind of super rude and Gabe pouts.

“Fuck you, Petey.” He says amicably, still not letting go of Pete’s very small, very fragile body. “William was probably five years old once.” Gabe says, sorrow evident in his voice, and Pete groans.

 

2.

“Where the hell are my keys?” Jon grumbles from inside the Cobra bus.

“Here,” William says, smiling. He hands them to Jon. “Get your shit together, man.”

“Fuck you,” Jon replies good-naturedly, chuckling.

Gabe narrows his eyes at the exchange.

He _knew_ there was something between them.

If THROAM has taught him anything, it’s that if a band member and a roadie spend enough time together, something is bound to happen.

Not that he _read_ THROAM or anything. Just like, the first volume.

He was curious, okay?

That’s not the point, anyway. The _point_ is that he knows that Jon and William were probably in love at some point, and that Jon just couldn’t let William go. And that now, Jon is flirting with William. Right in front of Gabe!

The rational part of Gabe’s brain tells him that he might be overreacting a little bit. The other part of Gabe’s brain tells the rational part to shut the fuck up, because he most definitely is _not_.

And really, what the fuck is Jon even doing on the Cobra bus? Doesn’t he have anything better to do? Some sick bass lines to play? Some band mediating to do? When is he ever not with Brendon or Ryan or Spencer anyway? Jon is probably only here to hit on William, the _asshole_.

Even though Jon’s not an asshole and is pretty nice and cool and an overall pretty great person. But fuck him.

“Gabe, you alright?” William asks, frowning, breaking Gabe from his internal, outraged monologue. “You look kinda pissed.”

“I’m fine.” Gabe answers, forcing himself to sound calm.

“Dude, you sure?” Jon then asks him. The _gall_ of that man!

“I’m _fine_." Gabe snaps. Jon steps back.

“Okay,” He says cautiously, and leaves.

“Gabanti, what’s wrong?” William says gently, crowding near him and rubbing his arm comfortingly.

“Nothing.” Gabe grumbles.

“C’mon, you can tell me,” William coaxes.

“No, I can’t.” 

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.” William sighs.

“Well, you were kind of mean to Jon - “ Gabe tunes him out. _Jon, Jon, Jon. Everything goes back to Jon._

“I’m taking a nap.” Gabe announces.

“Want me to come with you?” William asks. He nudges Gabe’s toe with his. “Little snuggle buddy.” He says with a little giggle, and Gabe smiles.

“Okay,” he answers. They go to Gabe’s bunk and cuddle and sleep and Gabe feels his earlier irritation fade because even if Jon and William had something before, Jon isn't the one snuggling with William right now, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

 

3. 

Gabe sees Tom first.

He frowns and tries to warn William, but Tom has already reached them by that point.

“Bill, Gabe, hey!” Tom says, grinning.

“Oh, hey, Tom,” William greets him, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Just hanging out with some friends.” Tom gestures to a group of guys at one of the tables. “But I saw you guys so I came over to say hi.”

Gabe doesn’t miss the gleam in Tom’s eye. He thinks that Tom wants to do _a lot more_ than just say hi, but he doesn’t say anything.

He knows they used to date, and he knows it was Bill who ended it.

That’s enough for him to not exactly trust Tom’s intentions right now. 

“Want a drink? I’ll buy it for you, for old times sake.” He pauses. “For Gabe, too.” He adds as an afterthought.

“I’m fine.” Gabe says stiffly, and Tom doesn’t hesitate.

“Okay. You, Bill?” He asks, looking a little too eager, if you asked Gabe. Which no one did, but whatever.

“Um, sure. A - “

“Vodka-soda?” Tom interrupts with a grin. “I remember.” He stalks off to catch the attention of the bartender.

“Wow,” Bill muses. “What a coincidence, huh?”

“Yeah.” Gabe says emotionlessly. William frowns.

“What? Do you not like Tom?” Gabe doesn’t really know how to answer that, because Tom’s an okay guy, and it’s not like he ever hurt Bill or anything while they were dating, but Tom is putting all his moves on Bill right now, and Gabe does _not_ appreciate it.

“No, he’s okay.” Gabe finally settles on. “I’m just - “ Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Tom start to come back, drink in hand. “I’m just going to go talk to Brendon.” Gabe finishes, then walks towards Brendon at the other side of the bar without waiting for Bill to answer.

“Hey, B.” Gabe says, settling in next to him. “You okay?” He asks, once he takes in Brendon’s sad expression and the lone, empty shot glass sitting in front of him. Really, Brendon looks like the stereotype of the Sad Person in any Rom-Com ever.

“Yeah.” Brendon answers, sounding not-okay, with a not-okay expression on his face.

“Bren.” Gabe says, in his best cut-the-shit voice. “What’s up?” Gabe asks, putting his hand on Brendon’s back instinctually to soothe him.

“Ryan.” Brendon says, giving in immediately. And really, that’s what Gabe was expecting. Brendon and Ryan have been dancing around each other since _forever_. “He doesn’t want to date me.” Brendon says sadly, and although it hurts Gabe a little to see _Brendon_ sad, Gabe kind of wants to roll his eyes.

Like seriously, how can someone be so oblivious?

“How do you know that?” Gabe asks lightly, instead of shaking him, which is what he really wants to do.

“I just do.” Brendon responds, like that’s a good answer or something.

Really, some people will jump to such lengths to convince themselves that the person they like doesn’t like them back. For fuck's sake.

But Gabe, contrary to popular belief, isn’t actually a complete asshole. So he listens to Brendon talk about how Ryan will never like him, or whatever, and Gabe tries to comfort him.

“Thanks, Gabe.” Brendon says, when he’s done babbling. He’s a little tipsy, Gabe knows, which is confirmed when Brendon presses a slightly sloppy kiss to Gabe’s cheek.

And it’s kind of weird, but Gabe doesn’t really mind, because Brendon’s always been a bit of an affectionate drunk anyway. Gabe looks up to see William frowning at them. He’s probably also worried about Brendon, the poor guy.

“C’mon, Bren.” Gabe says, tearing his eyes away from William. “Let’s take you to bed.”

 

+1.

Gabe is so tired. Bill is off talking to the bartender, and Gabe didn’t really hear their conversation but he just _knows_ the bartender is probably shamelessly hitting on William, and William is either encouraging it or letting it happen.

Seriously, why else would they even be talking at all?

So when Mikey comes up to him with a grin and says, “Hey, Saporta. Wanna dance?” Gabe immediately jumps up to follow him to the floor.

They’re grinding, and it’s fun and whatever, and neither of them are hard or anything (because that’d be kinda gross and weird) and they’re sweating a little but it’s nice, anyway, and he’s enjoying himself.

That is, until, he sees a pale hand on his arm and he turns around to see a very annoyed-looking Bill.

“Hey, man.” Gabe greets him.

“Come with me.” Bill says, or at least that’s what Gabe thinks he says. The music is so loud that Gabe can’t really hear his words.

“What?” Gabe tries, but Bill just rolls his eyes and grabs Gabe away from Mikey who has stopped dancing and also looks a little confused.

“What’s up?” Gabe asks once they’re outside of the club.

Bill doesn’t answer, but his jaw is set and he looks _pissed_.

“What?” Gabe asks. “What’d I do?” Bill glares at him.

“Fuck, Gabe.” He says. “You don’t even know what you fucking do to me, do you?”

“What?” Gabe asks again, but he stops quickly when he realizes that William is kissing him.

_William Eugene Beckett Jr. is fucking kissing him._

But then he pulls away and suddenly, William looks terrified.

“Oh no.” He whispers. He quickly covers his face and steps away, all traces of anger gone. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, it was just so hard to - I mean - you just - “ He’s stumbling over his words, and Gabe isn’t really sure what’s going on.

“You just kissed me.” Gabe observes, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, I know, fuck. I’m so sorry. We can just - we can just pretend this never. Happened. Right? This never happened, you can go back to Mikey, _fuck_.”

“No.” Gabe says firmly. “We can’t pretend this never happened.”

“Why not?” William whines, still covering his face.

“Because,” Gabe says, stepping closer to peel William’s hands off his face. “Because.” He repeats, and leans down a little to kiss Bill lightly on the lips.

“Oh. That’s why.” William says softly, like an idiot. 

“Yeah.” Gabe says, and they’re both blushing a little. “Bill?” Gabe asks.

“Hm?”

“When you said that I don’t even know what I do to you - “ William turns even redder. “What did you mean?”

“You just. You _suck,_ okay?” Gabe’s eyes widen a little. If Gabe’s being honest, this was not the sort of declaration of love he was expecting.

“What?”

“You’re like, a piece of shit, y’know?”

“Um.”

“You just.” Bill exhales. “You make me so fucking jealous.”

“ _Me_?” Gabe squeaks. What the hell?

“Yes, _you_. With Pete and Brendon and now fucking _Mikey_. Like I don’t know if you _enjoy_ making me suffer, but Jesus fucking _christ -_ “

“I made you jealous?” Gabe repeats.

“Yeah, you fucker.” Gabe laughs, not because it’s funny, but because it’s a little bit unbelievable.

“Seriously?” Bill grimaces.

“What?”

“ _I_ made you jealous?”

“Um, weren’t you _listening_ \- “

“Fuck, Bill.” Gabe keeps laughing.

“Stop, okay? I know it’s pathetic.” Gabe shakes his head.

“No, I’m sorry. It’s nothing.” He says. He kisses Bill again. “I just. I like you so much, you know? I really, really like you.”

“Oh.” Bill says, his lips twitching upward. “I like you too.”

“Good.” He brushes the hair from Bill's face. “You made me jealous too, you know.” Gabe says offhandedly, as if it hadn’t been casually ruining his life for this entire tour so far. Bill snorts.

“Really? With whom?” Bill asks.

“Just, y’know. Everyone.”

“Well, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.” Bill assures, and Gabe grins.

“Yeah.” Gabe responds holding William close. William holds him back, making Gabe's heart flutter. “I know that now.”


End file.
